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Keith Kitchen January 29, 2015

Preparing The Turf Grass For Spring 2015

Preparing Turf Grass For Spring 2015

Ideally, sports turfs should be maintained all-year-round. Even in the summer when sports activities are at a fever pitch, you must still find ways of keeping the grass green and healthy.

Spring is quite a challenging time for sports managers. It’s a time when turf grasses are not actively growing yet you still have to provide a safe and aesthetically pleasing playing field. Manytimes you are forced to wait until temperatures are consistently warm before the grass resumes active growth. Although nature dictates many aspects of field recovery, there are still severalsteps you can take to optimize your fields in preparation for spring.

Start by developing a plan. And in a good plan, preparation for spring starts in fall. This is because spring often finds most fields in the same condition or worse than they were left in fall.

Mowing

Depending on the grass, mowing may be required from December through January and into February.

During this period, common or hybrid Bermuda grass may not need mowing at all because Bermuda goes dormant during the coldseasons. However, perennial, annual, or intermediate Ryegrass must be mowed. When mowing, cut back the grass to 1 – 1.5inches.

A general rule when mowing turfgrass is to remove no more than 1/3 of the total leaf surface at one time. Removing more than a thirdof the leaf surface can negatively affect photosynthetic production of food and depletes carbohydrates reserves in the grassultimately leading to root growth restriction and graying out or browning of leaf tips among others.

If there is excess rain; do not mow. Mowing at this time can cause rutting and compaction. Also, do not mow when there is earlymorning frost as traffic during frost tends to rupture leaf blades.

Irrigation

While non-over-seeded Bermuda grass fields don’t need irrigation between December and February, over-seeded fields do. The recommended frequency of irrigation is once or twice everyweek. The best time to irrigate is at the first sign of wilt. You can tell that there is wilting if leaves start to fold or curl and become blue-green in color. Also, if footprints are visible after walking onthe turf, there is likelihood of wilting.

Soil Tests

At CW Sports Turf, winter is the time when we conduct soil sample tests to help us prepare the soil and turf not just for spring but forthe entire year ahead.

It is important to know a soil’s physical properties including; complexion, soil texture, soil structure, water holding capacity, waterinfiltration rate, and soil drainage in order to fully understand the root zone and establish an effective maintenance program. Moreover,knowing the pH, Phosphorous, and Potassium levels of a soil helps when applying fertilizers to achieve a healthy field.

We also test for macronutrient content of the soil. Macronutrients required for healthy growth of turfgrass include Iron, Copper,Chlorine, Manganese, Zinc, Nickel, and Molybdenium. In order to maintain adequate proportions of these macronutrients in a soil, it isimportant to ensure an appropriate soil pH.

Turf Dye Application

Finally, winter is also the time when we apply turf dye/colorant. Also popular as pigments, dyes are basically dry powders than canimmensely improve turf quality. Applying the right turf dye at the right rates results in increased color longevity over the winter seasonmaking the winter-to-spring transition a smooth one.

Summary

CW Sports Turf is the preferred turf management company in Virginia. Visit us today on 247 Wylderose Ct. Midlothian or contact us on 804-594-6911 and let’s help you prepare your turf forspring 2015.

About

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Keith Kitchen

Owner at Commonwealth Sports Turf ServicesGrowing up on a working farm that feeds your family gave Keith an appreciation for the importance of planning for growth. It was corn and peanuts then, now it sports turf. Aftergraduating from Virginia Tech with a Bachelors of Science in Agricultural Economics and spending 5 years with Southern States, Keith partnered into a new business ventureoverseeing natural turf maintenance for Luxury Lawns, a startup maintenance company. Continued growth over 20 years has placed Luxury Lawns, a company Keith now owns,in the top small businesses in the Midlothian area specializing in residential turf management, landscape design and installation, and hardscape applications. After success in the residential turf

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market, Keith launched Commonwealth Sports Turf and now manages the day to day operations of the business.© Copyright - Commonwealth Sports Turf Services

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